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Marine Corps Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Marine Corps Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.5 
Organization 3.9 
Spectators 4.6
Number of comments: 937 [displaying comments 481 to 491]
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d. s. from St. Louis Missouri
(10/31/2006)
"Great course until you crossed the finish line." (about: 2006)
3 previous marathons
| 1 Marine Corps Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 This was a great run. The course was great with lots of cheering spectators. However once you crossed the finish line, it was chaos. There was no spectator control. It took almost an hour to get from the finish line to the meeting area. | |
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T. H. from State College, PA
(10/31/2006)
"Awesome Event" (about: 2006)
2 previous marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 The marines did a great job putting on this event. They were very courteous and helpful. The water stations were well staffed and there seemed to be enough help at the finish line. The temperature was almost perfect but the wind picked up quite a bit during the last half of the race and really increased the difficulty. The run down to Haines Point and back was very challenging with a strong crosswind the whole way. We had a very strong headwind as we crossed the 14th Street Bridge. After that I really didn't notice the wind because the pain in my legs and the numbness in my brain overcame all other feeling. The final hill at the end was lots of fun in a masochistic sort of way, but what do you expect from the marines? I ran with one of the pace groups and that worked out pretty well. The pace group leader (Chris from Cincinnatti) did an excellent job maintaining a consistent pace. This was a good way to run a marathon. I didn't have to look at my watch at all. However the pace group was kind of tight. My feet were kicked from behind a number of times and I almost went down once. In addition it was hard for my family to find me since I was in a pack of runners. It was very inspiring to run past the monuments in our nation's capital. This has to be one of the most scenic venues for a marathon. The spectators were also very inspiring. There were some areas where there were few spectators, but there were lots of spectators over most of the course. This was a very good course for spectators too. Because this is a loop course that folds back on itself in a few areas, a spectator can walk to a number of different vantage points to view his/her favorite runner. I avoided dropping off clothing and so I didn't have to deal with walking to the baggage drop off and pick-up. I had a bad experience at Boston this year so I decided not to use this service. I just wore old clothes and threw them away as I warmed up during the run. I didn't experience the lines at the family meeting area that others mentioned. When I finished (early) there were very few people at this area. Overall this was a great event organized by a great organization. | |
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G. G. from Boston, MA
(10/31/2006)
"Kind of disappointed - finish area nightmare!" (about: 2006)
2 previous marathons
| 1 Marine Corps Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 Lots of the course is spent running along interstate highways with no crowds. Field seemed larger than organizers could handle. Post-race, a Metro shuttle that was supposed to take us to the Pentagon and Crystal Cities took us 45 minutes north of DC before the driver admitted he was going the wrong way.... I just started running marathons last year but this field just seemed too large for the support received. (Seemed like there were 3X as many runners as spectators). Still glad I ran it, but will never run MCM again. (Already registered for NYC 2007!) | |
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R. J. from Georgia, US
(10/31/2006)
"Great - until the finish" (about: 2006)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Marine Corps Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 This is a must-do marathon; a course that is scenic, historic, fast and flat. Aid stations are well-stocked and staffed by enthusiastic and professional volunteers - but then, they are marines, so what else would you expect? Aside from the wind, which even the USMC can't control, it is a fast course. It winds past numerous historic sites and monuments, and begins and ends near the Iwo Jima Memorial at Arlington Cemetery, a truly awe-inspiring sight. Organization was exemplary, UNTIL.... The runner's village at the finish. This was an absolute disaster. Runners and supporters were all funneled into a small area on a narrow overpass. The result was a crush of exhausted runners, spectators, baby strollers and whatnot. There was no choice for the runners, we had to fight our way past the non-runners and baby strollers to the bag pick-up point. Why were non-runners and strollers allowed in there? This is the last thing that a runner needs after completing a marathon - to be caught in a crowd, unable to move or stretch. At least two runners collapsed and medics had a hard time reaching them, due to the crush of bodies. It took me 45 minutes to push through the crowd, and the scene was repeated at the Metro station where there was another crush of bodies. This finish-line fiasco brought the rating from 5 stars down to 3. I hope that this situation is corrected next year. | |
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J. C. from MD
(10/31/2006)
"Less is More" (about: 2006)
6-10 previous marathons
| 4-5 Marine Corps Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 This is my fifth MCM. The marines are outstanding. However I feel the event was better before expanding the field. We are only talking about 1-3 thousand more finishers and risk the chance of losing the claim of the best organized marathon in order to be the fourth largest. In particular I felt that the line to the expo was very long and the vendors not well supplied. Then on the race the worst thing I ever wittnessed happened. One of the vendors set up at mile marker 1. As you turned the corner, there was a table full of delicious looking fruits of all sorts. A woman runner in front of me went to take a grape and was pushed by the spectator/vendor. The man barked, "Are you going to buy something?" as he pushed her. I told security but feel that when you spend all the time preparing, traveling, and equipping for this event that the vendors should be kept in the expo. What if that jerk had hurt that runner and ruined her event? For what - a couple more dollars for some grapes? The other thing was that they seemed to run out of space blankets at the finish line. Semper Fi. | |
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C. B. from Illinois
(10/31/2006)
"Beautiful course but highly disorganized." (about: 2006)
2 previous marathons
| 1 Marine Corps Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 3 Great weather, and beautiful sites along the route. Plenty of aid stations. Enthusiastic crowds. Two-mile hill at the beginning was killer. Many problems with organization. I've never run a race that started late - 20 minutes after scheduled start time. And this was with an extra hour of daylight savings time to get organized. Gear check too far away from start. Exit area way too crowded. Gear pick-up a disaster. No way for runners to meet up (missing letters of the alphabet at runner meeting area). Shuttle wait was very long. Took over two hours to get back to a nearby hotel. | |
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B. V. from Chicago
(10/31/2006)
"overloaded" (about: 2006)
11-50 previous marathons
| 3 Marine Corps Marathons
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 This is my 3rd MCM and the finish area/transportation and expo have gone far beyond their respective carrying capacity. I figured out that I spent at least five hours waiting in various lines. I ended up walking about a mile west to the next Metro stop after the race simply to be able to get on a train. The meet-up area was a disaster - nothing like attempting to meet your wife on a small bridge with a few emergency vehicles and several thousand people on it. This race was great when they capped it at 16K. | |
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trichik .com from Las Vegas, NV
(10/31/2006)
"My last big-city marathon" (about: 2006)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Marine Corps Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 As a runner there are certain "must do" races - MCM being one of them. That being said, I think this is likely my last big-city marathon. Having 34,000 runners plus 100,000+ spectators is just too much and could not be handled efficiently. Though the marines were exceptionally nice, they were unfortunately uninformed about even the start line and baggage drop. Baggage drop off was WAY too far - likely a mile away from the faster corrals. I finally gave up and dropped my bag on the grass in hopes it would make it to the trucks. I knew it was hopeful - in smaller races it happens. No luck here though. Finish line needed more area for athletes to relax and stretch out without having 100K+ spectators mob the area. Metro scene was a nightmare. Not specific to this race only - but it always baffles me: the porta-potty etiquette, or lack thereof, before a race. If I am in the first wave, and it is 15 minutes before the gun - SPECTATORS should have the courtesy to WAIT until the athletes have done their business. If you have spectators cheering you on for a race, that's fantastic, but please do everyone a favor and advise them of this tidbit of courtesy and common sense. Pee after the gun! Otherwise, a beautiful race in a beautiful city, in honor of the wonderful men and women who fight for all of our freedom - and that alone is worth celebrating. | |
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p. m. from Washington, D.C.
(10/31/2006)
"Worst Organized Marathon" (about: 2006)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Marine Corps Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 Other commenters are right that the course is gorgeous, but it's difficult to enjoy the marathon experience when the logistics of the race are so poorly handled. Pre-race and post-race organization was terrible. Marathoners should be accommodated so that the only thing they have to think about on race-day is the distance. Unfortunately, the Marine Corps Marathon was filled with stresses before and after the race that made the actual race itself forgettable. The marathon website suggested that runners and spectators use mass transit to get to the start, so we did. But even though we planned well in advance to get to the start early, we still waited on the Arlington Cemetery subway platform for 25 minutes (because of the crowd) before being able to exit the station and get to the start. Many runners were fed up and jumped over a chain-link fence into the cemetery in order to get around the subway exit and make it to the start with a reasonable amount of time to stretch and use the bathroom. The subway just wasn't anywhere near prepared to handle the number of people arriving at the start. The organizers should have thought of this in advance and had more trains running and a better set-up at subway exits. Instead, because mass transit was keeping runners from getting to the start on time, the officials spontaneously moved the start time back 10 minutes, announcing the new start time just minutes before the race was about to begin. After the race, as other commenters have already stated, the post-race link-up area was disastrous. The whole alphabet was squeezed into a two-lane space on an overpass that was about 50-75 meters long. By the time we got to the link-up area, half of the flags for the letters of the alphabet were blown down. It took 30 minutes to inch through the 50 meters of the alphabet. Not something you want to do after running 26.2. After that, we tried to use the subway to get back over to downtown DC, and waited in more lines. Everything was lines, lines, lines. Including the expo the day before the race. To get into the expo, runners had to wait in an hour-long line to pass through security (and this is after what the race officials said were "peak" hours for the expo). Again, not something you want to do the day before the race when you'd rather be off your feet. The Marine Corps Marathon could learn a lot from other races that are its size. It's a universe away from the Chicago Marathon, which is by far the best organized race I've ever run. For those who are interested in running through historic DC for a marathon but without all the organizational nightmares, the National Marathon which is run in March and runs through many of the same areas of town is a better way to go. The allure of being cheered by marines was kind of like the allure of being cheered by bands along the San Diego course: it sounds neat, but when you're in the race, it doesn't seem like all that big of a deal. The Chicago crowd was, again, a universe away from the marines in terms of cheering. Many marines seemed apathetic about being at the race. Also, there were people around us in our corral who had questions about the race, but the marines at the corrals didn't know information and so referred them to the offical information table back at the runner's village. Who wants to walk all the way back to the runner's village when you're already in your corral at the start and have a question about the race? So the marines were a presence, but a kind of strange and somewhat disappointing presence in the context of a marathon. It was unsurprising to read in the Washington Post the next day that the leader of the wheelchair race was led more than a mile (uphill) off course before the pace vehicle for the wheelchair racers realized the mistake and turned around. It was also unsurprising to hear that the leaders of the 10K race - both male and female - made a wrong turn off the course and ran 400 meters in the wrong direction (allowing what had been the second-place woman to end up winning). How does that kind of thing happen at a race that wants to be as big as Marine Corps does? In the end, I wouldn't run this race again. DC is wonderful, but I'll try the National Marathon in March instead if I want to run through DC. | |
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J. D. from Chicago, IL
(10/31/2006)
"Expo and post-race problems" (about: 2006)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Marine Corps Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 5 The family reunion area was awful. There were two medical emergencies while I was shuffling along, and the med personnel couldn't even get through the crowd. Marathoners don't like to spend two hours post-race, trying to find their families or get their gear. Likewise, the expo was way too congested. The course is beautiful, albeit hilly, and the fans are awesome. |
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